Created under the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 (P.L. 103- 82), the Corporation for National and Community Service is an independent federal agency whose mission is to provide opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to engage in service to address the nation's pressing unmet needs. The Corporation is a public-private partnership overseeing three national service initiatives:

Learn and Serve America supports and encourages service learning in schools, colleges, and communities throughout the United States. Through structured service activities that help meet community needs, more than one million students improve their academic and civic skills, build character and social responsibility, and enhance their communities. Learn and Serve America provides direct and indirect support to K-12 schools, community groups and higher education institutions to facilitate service-learning projects

AmeriCorps engages 75,000 American adults in full-time and sustained part-time community service each year, and provides education awards in return for such service. AmeriCorps' three main programs are AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps VISTA, and AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC).

Senior Corps is a network of more than 500,000 people age 55 and older who participate in the Foster Grandparent Program, the Senior Companion Program, and the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). These programs tap the experience, skills, talents, and creativity of America's seniors.

Through Corporation-supported local programs and projects, well over a million committed participants, volunteers, and service corps members are working to address the nations unmet, critical needs in the environment, education, public safety, and other areas of human need.

In March 2009, Congress passed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. The Act reauthorizes the Corporation for National and Community Service and its programs through 2014.

Further Information:

Corporation for National and Community ServiceThe Corporation for National Service1201 New York Avenue, NWWashington, D.C. 20525Telephone: (202) 606-5000Website: http://www.nationalservice.gov/